The present invention relates to processed and prepared foods and pertains particularly to any improved sausage made substantially from poultry meat, such as chicken, and the method of making the same.
Sausages have been a popular food for many centuries. Sausages are typically made primarily from pork meat. A small percentage of sausages are made of beef meat. Sausages typically comprise a quantity of ground meat to which is added the desired spices to obtain the preferred flavoring. Pork and beef meat have been used almost exclusively in the manufacture of sausages, primarily because they have a natural binder, such that the meats thereof can be formed into patties and the like without the necessity of adding external binder.
Because of high fat and cholesterol content of beef and pork, much attention in recent years has been directed to the increased consumption of chicken in place of beef and pork. Chicken is traditionally a leaner meat than beef and pork and does not contain the high cholesterol levels. Poultry meat such as chicken and turkey, for example, are considered healthier than the pork and beef meats for this and other reasons.
One difficulty with the use of poultry meat, such as chicken, is that it does not contain natural binders such as fat, and cannot be formed into sausage in the traditional manner. The traditional manner of forming sausages involves the grinding of meat into small particles through a grinder, and then mixing the meat with the desired spices to provide the desired sausage flavoring and binders so that it can be formed into a cohesive mass. Beef and pork contain materials which form a natural binder, such that the ground meats are easily formed into patties and balls, and can be stuffed into linings without the ground combination crumbling and falling apart.
Sausages formed of poultry meat such as chicken have not been popular, because such meat does not contain natural binders and cannot be formed into sausage in the traditional manner. For example it is necessary, due to the structure of the chicken ground in a traditional fashion, to add binder to the ground meat in order to form the necessary cohesive sausage materials. Small quantities of pork meat have been traditionally added to chicken to provide the necessary binder.
Because of the desirability of maintaining pure food without the necessity of a binder, sausages containing poultry meat, such as chicken sausages have not been readily available in the past. It is undesirable to utilize binders due to the contaminating effect thereof. Unnecessary artificial additives or non-essential food additives tend to lessen the desirability of the sausage.
Among the known patents that are directed to the preparation of chicken are the following: U.S. Pat. No. 2,916,381, issued Dec. 8, 1959 to S. Jumenko, and entitled "Table Delicacy", which discloses a process of grinding chicken meat mixed with veal and stuffing the mixture into a chicken skin. The veal serves as a binder in the ground mixture.
The Luchese U.S. Pat. No. 2,853,389 discloses a process of deboning a chicken and stuffing it. Portions of the skin and flesh are kept intact for stuffing. The process includes disjointing the wing bones from the breast bone, and scraping the meat free of the wing bones and removing the wing bones. The stuffing for the chicken is molded into the shape of a chicken, and inserted into the boned poultry through the neck opening.
German Publication No. 1,936,634 of Bahr discloses a process of preparing sausages in which fifty to seventy percent of the poultry meat is crushed, rather than ground, and the remaining thirty to fifty percent is left in large lumps. The lumps and mince are mixed with salt and spices, and it is cooked in sausage cases, cans or jars. He also discloses that emulsifiers can be added to the mince part of the mix. He discloses that he avoids using fat additives, but does not disclose that he can form a cohesive mass, such as patties for cooking.
These, however, fail to suggest a process of making chicken sausages solely consisting substantially of poultry meat such as chicken meat that provides a cohesive mass without the use of binders.
It is, therefore, desirable that some method and means be available for the making of pure poultry sausages such as chicken sausages.